Bryce Canyon National Park

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July 9 – July 15; Trip days 100 – 106

 After Zion, we departed for Bryce Canyon National Park. We had some awesome views of arches along the way and wildlife.

 There was a herd of Bison along the road.

 After arriving at our camp site, I set up the RV and went to go fix the bathroom shower door. One of the screws had come out of the track wheels and it fell of the track. Fairly easy fix, but to do so involved lifting the heavy glass doors out and reseating them in the track.

 We stayed at Ruby’s Inn and Campground, just outside the park. The site we had was very large and we had our own grassy area and fire pit area. The kids loved it as they could play in the grass near the RV.

 Taking a break from the heat. The kids were coloring and journaling in the shade. The blue cube is a misting fan we picked up to help combat the heat in the dry air.

We went to the Visitor Center, which is just down the road from the campground. It was busy, but not as busy as Zion. The kids did their books and got their badges. We learned in the museum that the whole area of Utah and parts of Colorado and Arizona, referred to as the Grand Staircase, is connected through geology (NPS, Wiki).

A depiction of the layers and their ages. Best viewed enlarged.

I got Ducky his own Camelbak and his own Junior Ranger hat. He is very proud of them. This way he carries his own water, and if I need to put him in the pack, I can strap his water to it so it’s accessible.

Ready to head out on the Mossy Cave trail. Ducky wanted to walk.  I’m getting the GoPro ready to record the hike (yet to be processed…). You can view the Mossy Cave hike log here.

 After a short hike, we made it to Mossy Cave, which is more of a grotto. We also found our first Hoodoo medallion.

 The kids look on at the cave and watch the water flow.

 Victory shot – shenanigans may have been involved!

 From there, we hiked over to the Tropic Ditch. The kids enjoyed putting their hands in the water and feeling the speed of the current.

 From there, we could take a short walk and see the Tropic Ditch waterfall and see other visitors playing in the pool.

 After the hike, we did the scenic drive and got some awesome views of the Bryce Canyon formations.

 

 

 Back at the campground, Ducky asked me to take him for a walk. So, we went on a walk around the campground and he told me all about the ghosts in the campground. Ducky is apparently very into ghosts right now. But we did meet another little boy, who was camping with his family that was an only child and was very excited to share his toys and have someone to play with.

Randal enjoys dinner in the cool evening. The building behind him is the Inn across the lake.

Everyone has a good time catching up with friends back home via video chat!

Evan takes Randal out for bike rids on Garrett’s bike. Randal really enjoys the rides!

Meagan, Jarek, and Randal went out for the Bristlecone Loop trail one morning and found their Hoodoo medallion.

Views from Bristlecone.

Views from Bristlecone.

Afterward, they went to check out the nearby town of Tropic.

Do you ever feel that you are having trouble navigating life?

Queens Garden – Navajo Loop Hike 

We mounted up the family for a big hike to do the Queens Garden – Thor’s hammer – Navajo Loop Hike. You can view the GPS log of the hike.

So this was how it started…

The trail started off with a decent descent down the sandstone slope into the canyon.

We were rewarded with numerous spectacular formations along the trail.

Family shot at the bottom!

There were several places where the trail was carved through the rocks. Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as Carlsbad Caverns where I had to crawl on my hands and knees.

The “Queen Victoria” Hoodoo.

 Documenting the Hoodoo for the quest!

 The Navajo Loop Hoodoo!

 Taking a break on the way up.

 Wait, you mean we have to back up all that?

 How it ended… Family portrait at the (almost top) with Thor’s Hammer off to the left.

 As we were headed out, we passed the start of the Wall Street trail, which we elected to not do, as we were all pretty tired after this hike.

 Ducky and Randal enjoyed some playtime after the hike.

We made it back to the Visitor Center in time to get our Hoodoo stickers!

After the hike, we took a rest day.

 I’d like to speak to the manager about my milk rations….

 Meagan and the kids baked cookies for a treat.

 Jarek get some cuddle time with Firefly and Gambit snoozes in his favorite spot on my chair.

 Thanks for reading!

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Zion National Park

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30 Jun – 8 Jul; Trip days 91 – 99

After visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (video to come) and Pipe Spring National Monument, we drove to visit Zion Canyon National Park.

Getting into the site was a bit of an adventure. The sites were all back in and not aligned to be friendly for bigger rigs. They also had metal poles at the corners of each site so, no cheating. I ended up getting the rig backed in, although not straight in. The site was also only 1 foot longer than the RV, so that was additional fun.

 Zion in the summer time could be quite warm (and dry!). We did a lot of hiding inside and during the afternoons when it heated up, we went to the river to cool off.

The view from the campground was pretty amazing. We had some towering canyon cliffs all around us.

The Virgin River was flowing right next to the campground, so it was very convenient to spend the afternoons there and cool off. There were small walls built in the river which made a nice little pool with very little current, which was great for the kids to play in, especially the littles.  

 One of Randal’s favorite past times, digging in the dirt on the river bank. He got cold rather quickly, but didn’t mind hanging out.

The campground was just down the road from the Zion Visitor Center, so we made a quick trip to get the Junior Ranger books. They had a table set up outside with things the kids could touch and explore.  

 After completing their books, they got their badges. The place was a bit of a zoo and we weren’t prepared to do the further exploration on the shuttle, so we saved that for another day.

 Back to the river to cool off and play!

 Ducky got a shark floaty. It was his favorite thing. He would happily bob around the pool and move up and down the bank in it all afternoon. The other kids were happily trying to catch frogs and minnows.

 We braved the shuttle to the end of Zion Canyon. There you could take a short hike to the river narrows from which other trails branched off. We decided to not do some of the hikes we thought we’d like to do due to the difficulty, especially the difficulty with babies, and the heat. One of shuttle stops was closed, and we just weren’t up for the longer hikes in the heat with the kids.

 Jarek poses along the riverwalk trail.

The river was packed. This place was a bit liked Disneyland or a theme park – packed with people. To get to the back of the park, you had to take the shuttle. The shuttle was not very good in my opinion – it would be better as an open top or bubble top so you could at least see the scenery. I did take some video that I have yet to process, but from my passenger side window on the ride up I had great views of the canyon walls.

At the end of the line, everyone had to get off and get back in line to get on a shuttle to return to the visitor center (or walk the 8 miles back). We spent about an hour in line on the return side to get a shuttle back.

 The kids had a lot of fun standing in the hinge area of the connected busses.

 Gambit seeks refuge from the craziness in his apartment.

 Randal knows how to chill out.

 The kids enjoying the river – their favorite part about this stop!

 Amazing sunsets watching the shadows creep up the canyon walls. The stargazing was also amazing (as long as the rented RVs turned off their flood lights….😡😡 The western RV parks have a good culture of supporting the Dark Sky initiative generally speaking, so we were able to enjoy many nights of stargazing.

Overall, Zion was meh. I suppose if we did some of the other hikes, we would have a different thought, but visiting the park with kids, it is a goat rodeo. If we go back, we’ll go back in the off season when it is cooler and has less people all over the place.

Pipe Spring National Monument (Free)

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27 June 2024 – Trip Day 88

 Starting off the morning with a Randal shot!

 As we were getting ready to head out, a thunder storm was approaching. Some of the most severe storms that we encountered on the trip happened here at Fredonia.

The power was out when we arrived at the Pipe Springs NM Visitor Center. We didn’t take a lot of photos, but we did take a decent amount of video. Additionally, I was able to record the volunteer’s talk on Windsor Castle’s history.

 

After our visit to Pipe Springs, Arya and Randal play in the living room.

Thanks for reading!

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Natural Bridges National Monument

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24 June 2024 – Trip day 85

Related: Driving the Moki Dugway

Related: Natural Bridges NM Scenic Drive

We started out with pancakes today. Jarek takes a turn manning the griddle.

 After breakfast, we drove up the Moki Dugway. You can watch the video at the link.

 

Meagan and Alan at the Moki Dugway overlook.

After we were done with the Moki Dugway, we decided to continue on to Natural Bridges National Monument.

We got to the visitor center, but it was closed. We were able to get our passport stamp from a folder on the door. You could tell that they didn’t get a lot of visitors there. The campground was open and there were a few other people there.

We decided to do the scenic drive and see what there was to see. There were a few short hikes off the drive to a couple overlooks.

The first bridge was Sipapu bridge.

 

Arya was very excited to get out and look at it, having been cooped up in the car for the last few hours.

A view of the bridge from the overlook.

 The hooligans at the overlook.

 Our next stop was the Horsecollar House overlook. There is a pueblo ruins visible across the valley after a short hike. We took turns hiking out, leaving the babies in the car.

 Horsecollar House

 Horsecollar House

 Randal enjoyed his time in the driver’s seat.

 The next stop was Kachina Bridge.

 Kachina Bridge as seen from the overlook.

 Randal being difficult for his photo shoot.

Successfully wrangled, Randal poses for a happy picture.

 The last bridge is Owachomo Bridge.

 Thanks for reading!

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Glen Canyon National Rec Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument

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23 June 2024 – Trip Day 84

 We did the long drive out to the Glen Canyon Visitor Center. It was a bit of a hike from the campground, but it was about as close as we were going to get to it on our trip.

We had a nice lunch picnic on the grass outside the visitor center.

 A view of the dam from the visitor center.

 The kids were very interested in the dam and the bridge construction.

 Garrett examines a relief terrain model of the area.

 

This was as close to the Rainbow Bridge. It was only accessible via boat, and while we looked into a tour, we were not keen on paying the redonculous sums required to get the family out there. The Rainbow Bridge NM Visitor Center is co-located with the Glen Canyon Dam Vvisitor Center.

 In the Junior Ranger area, they had a mock up of a speed boat. Garrett and the other kids had a great time playing with it.

One of the other displays was an area where the kids could build with foam blocks. Randal was very interested in the foam blocks.

 Evan joins some other kids at the area to see how tall of a tower they could build.

 After they finished their Junior Ranger books, we drove out to Horseshoe Bend. This was a short hike from the parking area, about a mile or so. It was very hot and we took our time. It was a nice view of the river and the Bend. We were able to see some kayakers or rafters setting up camp on the beach below us.

 Jarek and Evan came with me, and we swapped out with Meagan and Arya so the littles could stay in the car and the air conditioning.

 

A view of the trail. It was quite busy with a steady stream of people making the journey to check it out.  

 After Horseshoe Bend, we drove over to the Lake Powell Rec Area and found the swimming area. It was late by the time we got there, but the kids did enjoy putting their toes in the water and playing in the sand a little bit before a storm came in and we headed back for the 2 hour drive back to our campground.

Thanks for reading!

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Navajo National Monument

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22 June 2024 – Trip Day 83

Today we drove out to the Navajo National Monument. But first, cookies!

On the rest day the kids made cookies and Meagan baked them in batches in the small RV oven.

It was an hour drive from the campground to Navajo NM, which was a very pretty drive through some canyons. Access to the pueblo structures was limited to guided hikes with the rangers. They did have a mock up of the ruins in the visitor center.

Another set of ruins in the Monument.

Some of the pottery that was made by the ancestral peoples. Pottery was apparently their big export.

A view of the valley from the visitor center patio.

The kids worked on their books. Ducky needed to charge up a bit more before we hiked.

The kids continued to work on their books and had some snacks. Ducky was powered up now and ready to go!

On the trail. Ducky insisted on walking himself, which he did a pretty good job of doing. The hike was short, about a mile overall round trip to the overlook.

You can see the Garmin profile here.

From the overlook, we could see the ruins down below.

Up above, a pair of ravens circled above us, keeping watch, ever hopeful for snacks.

On the way back! Ducky did good on the hike, but soon after this he started to have an attitude and be dangerous on the bridge, so he went back in the pack.

A couple of goofballs on the trail.

Back at Visitor Center, the kids completed their books and got their badges.

We stopped at the local reservation grocery store. It was very pricey, but with an OK selection, considering that there was not much else in the area.

That evening, while we were hanging out, this guy came over to hang out. He was all about our camp site. Unfortunately for him, he kept making efforts to get to the babies, so he had to go.

Thanks for reading!

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You can also buy us a coffee!

Rest Day and a hike 21 June

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21 June 2024 – Trip Day 82

So to start, let’s back up a bit to the night of the 20th. We got hit by another monsoon (thunderstorm) that night. I heard some noise above our bedroom and went out to investigate.

 What you see here is a large (2-3 in) branch of the tree rubbing on the slide when the wind gusts would hit it. When it wasn’t windy, it wasn’t a problem. The rubbing was a bit of a problem for me, but fortunately the storm passed shortly after this (at around 1130pm) and we moved the rig a smidge the next day to eliminate the issue.

Radar image of where we were and the storm. at around 1040 pm we were right on the edge of the strongest part of the storm.  

 Two little sleepy heads in bed. Garrett will sometimes sleep in his own bed, but usually will wake up around 6 or 7 in the morning and come to our bed. Randal will wake up somewhat randomly throughout the night for another nursing session.

 Another phone abduction. Another 100 pictures!

 That evening we decided to go for a hike at the park. There was a little trail just past the end of the RV spots that took you out to a vista.

 A view of Monument Valley through the canyon and RV site approach.

 We hiked up to the overlook. Ducky was pretty much done at this point and only wanted to be carried. It was a bit windy up there!

 Mama and Randal at the overlook.

 I took Ducky back to the RV and Meagan and the big kids (and the littlest) went on to explore the arch trail further.

 Kids at the arch!

 Climbing to the top!

 Back at home, Randal plays before bed.

 Arya shows off the cookies she made!

Thanks for reading!

Sign up on Patreon as a free member to get notified of updates on our Journey! You can read about other stops on our adventure here on Patreon, or at our blog at https://www.wolfandraven.blog

You can also buy us a coffee!